membership

When you correctly align your lives with the corporate vision of the church, your personal vision will become clear and activated. When you align yourself with a church through MEMBERSHIP in many ways your life comes in alignment with God’s order and becomes a spiritual covering for you and your family. The enemy loves Lone Ranger Christians because they become easy targets for him, because they have no local covering. Satan understands the power/authority you come under when you are part of the ekklesia, the church, the called out ones, vis-a-vis isolated Christians or church hoppers who are on a quest to find the perfect church.

When a believer joins a particular congregation, he or she is bearing witness to a union that has already happened in the heart. Membership is an outward, formalised sign of the inward mutual commitment we have made with each other and the Lord. This commitment will affect our life decisions and influence our life perspective.

At Spread The Word, being a member is more than just having a certified membership document that can help during marriage, funeral, education, child dedications and emergencies. As members, we join together for God’s glory and our mutual benefit; we share the responsibilities and rewards of all that God will accomplish through us. To become a member of a church is to formally commit oneself to an identifiable, local body of believers who have joined together for specific, divinely ordained purposes. These purposes include receiving instruction from God’s Word 1 Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2, serving and edifying one another through the proper use of spiritual gifts Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-31; 1 Pet. 4:10-11, participating in the ordinances Luke 22:19; Acts 2:38-42, contributing financially to the work of ministry and proclaiming the gospel to those who are lost Matt. 28:18-20. In addition, when one becomes a member of a church, he submits himself to the care and the authority of the biblically qualified elders that God has placed in that assembly. Membership is a commitment from which flow many blessings and opportunities. After all, the local church is an expression of the universal church. Part of what it means to belong to the body of Christ is to belong to a body. Union with Christ expresses itself in union with a local body of believers. And when every believer is faithful to this kind of commitment, is the church able to live up to her calling as Christ’s representative here on earth.

Membership at STWC is not compulsory or mandatory for anyone, you must seek the Lord for this but in order to be used in any major ministry of the church, you must be committed as a regular member of this church. If you’re a member of another church, you can still continue coming to STWC but you shouldn’t be members of 2 churches, just like you can’t have 2 mothers. The difference between attending a Church or being its member can be summed up in one word – COMMITMENT. Loyalty to one church will determine your commitment and faithfulness in all other areas of your life.

And it’s not just you who makes a commitment through MEMBERSHIP. We have made a COMMITMENT to God that we will responsibly shepherd His people Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2, we will labor diligently among you 1 Thess. 5:12, and we will keep watch over your souls Heb. 13:17. Scripture teaches that the elders will give an account to God for the individuals allotted to their charge Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 5:3.

We can responsibly shepherd you and give an account to God for your spiritual well-being only if we know who you are; we can provide oversight only if we know for who we are responsible for; and we can fulfill our duty to shepherd the flock only if we know who is part of the flock and who is not. The elders of a church are not responsible for the spiritual well-being of individuals who just visit the church sometimes. Rather, we are primarily responsible to shepherd those who have submitted themselves to the care and the authority of the elders, and this is done through church membership.

We invite those who meet the membership standards and regularly attend services to become active members of the Congregation. We have an 8 page MEMBERSHIP STANDARDS and APPLICATION PACKET ALONG WITH A 2 PAGE MEMBERSHIP FORM. FILL THIS FORM OUT AND PAGE 4-THE MEMBERSHIP COMMITMENT IN THE 8 PAGE DOCUMENT ALONG WITH YOUR PICTURE AND GIVE BACK TO US. ONLY FOR PEOPLE 18 years and older. Husbands and wives must fill out their forms separately and so must children above 18 years of age. We will be having annual member gatherings to discuss church growth, church financial details and other major decisions. Do you have to pay for membership? Absolutely not, there is No pledge or annual/monthly fee whatsoever. Commitment to a church comes with a cost. Your commitment becomes that cost. Church is not a social club where you can buy an annual membership or show your face once a year or once a month so your membership will be valid.